


Trust Me

by DrunkenOracle



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Eventual Romance, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 19:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5639470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrunkenOracle/pseuds/DrunkenOracle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finnegan Freeman wakes up, feeds his cat, goes to work, has lunch at a cafe, returns to work, returns home, feeds his cat, and goes to sleep. This is his routine, and it hasn't changed in so long he can't readily remember anything before it. Then one day someone sits down at his table on his lunch break, and everything changes.</p><p>This is a modern fantasy fic, so mages and vampires and hunters and faeries abound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Me

Finnegan Freeman awoke to find himself sitting on the edge of his bed. He blinked a few times and his hands darted up to his face and rubbed at the sleep lingering in his eyes. He started to yawn, purely out of muscle memory, but found that he didn’t need to. He was, in all truth, complete awake and alert.

It was weird.

He scowled at the ground as he rose to his feet, but quickly dressed and rushed from the bedroom of his small apartment through the living room to the kitchen. A large grey tabby cat started mewling as loud as he could when he saw Finnegan exit his room, and he started circling Finnegan’s legs as cats are wont to do. Quickly, like the motions were second nature, Finnegan pulled open the lower cabinet and popped open a tub housing pounds of kitty kibble. He scooped some out, closed the tub, and poured the kibble into the cat’s food bowl. The scoop was stored on top of the tub and then the cabinet was closed.

“Be good, Bim Bim.” Finnegan stroked the cat’s head when he leapt onto the counter. “Gotta go to work.” He turned and left the kitchen, strode across the living room, and stopped short of the front door of his apartment, confusion suddenly crossing his face. He felt like he’d forgotten something. Almost routine, he patted down his pockets and then sprinted for his bedroom. “Fucking keys…” he muttered, eyes scouring his desk. He snatched his keys up from one corner and turned to leave, only to freeze and slowly turn back to the desk.

On the far end of it was his cactus. He cared for the cactus meticulously, never giving it more water or less sunlight than it needed. It was dead. He blinked once, twice, thrice, and then the phone in his pocket beeped at him and the dead cactus was forgotten and he was out the front door in just a few seconds.

The bus stop at the corner was a short walk of only a few minutes, and Finnegan arrived just in time for the bus to pull up and open it’s doors. He swiped his bus pass through the card reader and took an open seat near the front.

The city passed around him, a blur of desaturated colors, and he simply stared idly out the window. He didn’t check his phone; nobody would have texted him. He didn’t listen to music; music never really interested him. He just zoned out for the fifteen minute bus ride to work. Or he would have. The world came into sharp focus as the bus turned a corner, and Finnegan’s eyes locked onto a man waiting at the crosswalk.

There was something about him…

But then the bus was past him and Finnegan retreated back into himself, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. Only a short moment later he opened them again. An uneasy feeling had overtaken him when he closed his eyes. He couldn’t say it was any one specific thing, just a vague sense of dread. He recognized it as the same feeling he’d had when he woke up that day, and when he’d noticed the dead cactus on his desk.

He scowled and shook his head and got off on the next bus stop.

 

* * *

 

 

Finnegan sighed and swiped his ID card through the reader to start his lunch break. He checked his phone. He had half an hour; if he took the stairs down instead of waiting on the elevator, he could save probably five minutes getting to the cafe at the end of the block. The phone went back into his pocket and he started off down the hall and through the door into the unoccupied staircase.

Really, he was pretty sure the only reason the office building had a staircase at all was in case of fire. The suits all used the elevator, and it was mostly all suits there. Finnegan was one of three janitors on full-time hours. He supposed he didn’t hate it, even if he should have. It was a job; it paid the bills. He took the steps two at a time the whole way down and kept his head down when he left the stairwell, walked through the lobby, and exited through the front doors.

Outside of the building he stretched out a little as he walked and checked the time again. He was right on schedule. He’d be at the cafe in about two minutes, it would take seven minutes to get his sandwich, and he’d eat half of it there and the rest on the way back to the office building. If he was lucky, the cashier would have already rung his order in. He’d been coming to the same cafe at the same time five days a week for months by then, and his order never changed.

No such luck. He arrived to find a new, or at least new to the lunch shift, cashier standing at the register. She was polite enough at least, and asked how his day was.

“It’s going fine, thank you.” Finnegan forced a smile but anyone could see his heart wasn’t in it. “Can I get a club melt and chips?” He set exact change on the counter before she had the chance to respond and walked away with his number as soon as she finished counting the money out into the register. He found an empty table by a window and settled down to wait, the world blurring back out of focus as he just stared out the window, his chin propped up with one hand.

Every day was the same as the last and the next. He’d been living this life for so long he couldn’t really remember anything else. Before this it was school, and he’d only completed half a degree. Everything just seemed kind of lackluster. Finnegan sighed and checked the time. Six minutes had passed; his food would be out any second. His eyes drifted back to the window and slid shut. They snapped back open immediately at the sound of the other chair at his table scraping along the floor. He looked over to see the man he’d seen that morning on the corner sit down across from him.

They eyes of every daily regular and some weekly regulars were on Finnegan’s table. They’d never taken notice of him before, but this was something new. His routine had changed, and so theirs had changed, too, sort of.

“Hi, there,” the stranger offered as he set down the dishes he was carrying; two sandwiches. His lips were quirked in a crooked smile. “I’m Poe.” He slid one sandwich over to Finnegan: the club melt.

“...Finnegan.” He scrutinized Poe, but picked up his sandwich and took a bite. “What kind of a name is Poe?”

Poe half-snorted. “What kind of a name is Finnegan?”

“Touché.” He felt himself relaxing. There was something about Poe… It was vague, like the sense of dread, but… not negative. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Actually…” Poe wasn’t touching his sandwich. “I’m here to help you, to be honest.”

Finnegan returned his sandwich to the plate in front of him and cocked an eyebrow. “And what do I need help with?”

Poe’s smile faded and he looked away, scratching at the bridge of his nose. When he spoke again, his voice was low. “You had some pretty weird dreams last night, right?”

Finnegan scowled. “How…” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Poe sit straight up, eyes on the window. He looked out the window himself to see a woman watching them. She turned and headed for the entrance of the cafe.

“ _Dios mio_ , I thought we’d have more time before she got here.” He stood up and held a hand out to Finnegan. “Come with me.”

Finnegan hesitated because _of course_ he would. Why should he just up and leave with a man he just met? “This makes no sense. What’s going on?”

“Trust me, Finn.”

And just like that, Finn relaxed. Nobody’d ever shortened his name. In all his life he’d only ever been Finnegan. He wasn’t sure if it was something about Poe or something about being called Finn, but _something_ pulled at him and he rose to his feet and took Poe’s hand and they disappeared into the kitchen of the cafe and out the back door, moving as quickly as the pair of them could.

They ran. At some point, though he couldn’t say when, Finn started leading them. Corners and blocks and streets and alleys blurred past and finally they were in Finn’s apartment building taking the stairs up two at a time to the third floor. Finn fished into his back pocket and pulled out his keys and was glad he never took anything to work except what he could carry in his pockets and then he froze, key barely in the lock, eyes wide.

“My job.”

Poe had been watching the stairs and suddenly looked over to Finn. “What?”

“...I’m supposed to be at work. I was on my lunch break. I’m going to get a write-up. Possibly worse.”

Poe shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. Look, let’s just get into your apartment, alright?”

“Doesn’t matter?” Finn looked at Poe then. “This is my life! You can’t just show up and upend everything! I don’t even know you!”

Poe’s expression softened and he put one hand on Finn’s hand that held the key. “Finn…” He hesitated. “There are a lot of things you need to know that you don’t yet, and I can’t tell you any of them while we’re standing in this hallway. Trust me, Finn.”

That same vague feeling filled Finn and he unlocked the door to his apartment and walked in, holding it open for Poe and then closing it behind them both. He silently locked the door and set his keys on the coffee table there in the living room. “I’m home early, Bim Bim!” he called out. “I’ve brought a… guest.”

Poe looked back at Finn and then toward the direction from which came a soft thump and when the large grey tabby cat came into view Poe’s eyes went wide and he twirled around to put Finn between him and the cat. Bim Bim watched Poe for a second as if thinking about something and then, uncharacteristically in Finn’s opinion, started growling.

“Woah, woah, woah.” Finn stepped forward and crouched down in front of Bim Bim and started stroking him. “Cool down, boy. What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t know you had a cat.”

Poe’s voice sounded strained and Finn looked back at him. “...Yeah. Are you allergic or something?”

“No it’s not that, it’s…” He sighed. “Cats really don’t like me.”

Finn nodded and looked back down to Bim Bim. “Quiet down, alright? Poe and I need to talk.” The cat’s growling softened, but didn’t cease. It was good enough, and Finn sighed and moved into the kitchen. “Water?”

Poe seemed to only just then realize that they had, in fact, run three miles. “Please.” As he croaked the word out, he settled onto Finn’s sofa and stared at the little trio of succulents in the middle of the coffee table. They were dead. That struck him as odd. His mouth opened slightly and then closed and he twisted his head just a little to the side before looking back up at Finn re-entering the living room. His lips spread into a smile and he accepted the glass of water and watched as Finn sank into the armchair catty-corner from his seat on the sofa. A deep breath passed through his lips and he swallowed down some water and set the glass on the table. “So.”

Finn raised his eyebrows as he lowered his glass from his lips. “So? Are you going to tell me why you interrupted my lunch and cost me good standing at my workplace? How you know about the dreams I had last night?”

Poe bit his lip. “I’ve never had this conversation before, so you’ll have to bear with me, alright? Honestly I probably should have let the Hunter the Council sent talk to you, but… Well, Hunters are intimidating and there was something… funny about your… you.” He scowled at Finn’s dubious look. “Let me ask you something. Have you noticed anything strange today?”

“You mean aside from the strange man who interrupted my routine and is sitting on my couch babbling about Hunters and Councils and me being funny? Not really, no.” He froze a moment and then his expression softened. “Actually… My cactus died.” He looked down to the table. “And so did these succulents. That’s not normal.”

“...What do you remember about your dreams last night? Feelings, details, anything? Really think about it.” Poe watched Finn with concern. “...You’re going to have to close your eyes.”

Finn took a deep breath and swallowed his hesitation, closed his eyes. His nostrils flared and he let his mind wander. “Dread. Just… dread. That’s all I can feel. I see… Flashes of things… Withering plants? People clutching their hearts… Death. Death and dread.”

Poe sighed and his brow furrowed as he watched Finn open his eyes.

“What does that all mean, Poe?” Finn’s mouth tightened and then he spoke again. “Am I cursed?”

“You’re not cursed.” He shook his head. “You’re a Mage. In your sleep last night you Awakened, as every supernatural being does. While you were asleep you experienced the first signs of your inherent specialty in magic. You drained the life out of your cactus and these succulents.”

Finn didn’t speak. His eyes fell to the ground.

“You can learn other types of magic… even healing, although that’ll be more difficult for you than anything else.” Poe rubbed at his eyes. “Hell, I’m not even sure where to go with this next…”

Finn looked up at Poe. “So… are you a Mage, too?”

A short bark of soft laughter burst from Poe. “Nah. I’m a Fae.”

“Fae? Like… Faeries?”

“Got it in one, Buddy. Watch this.” Poe held up one finger. He dipped it into the glass of water and then held it over one of the dead succulents long enough for a water droplet to fall onto it. He did the same with the other two and in a matter of mere moments they were alive again, thriving as they had been before Finn had Awakened. “Nifty, eh?”

Finn just stared at him. “...Wow. Okay. ...Why am I not panicking right now? I feel like I should be panicking right now.”

“If you weren’t a natural Supernatural, you would be. Fae and Mages and natural-born Werecreatures… we don’t panic when we Awaken the way Hunters and Vampires and made Werecreatures do.” He shrugs. “For a natural Supernatural, this is an inevitability. Your body has always known you were going to Awaken someday. Now you’ve Awakened and even though the world is _completely_ different from what you knew yesterday, you’re coping just fine because you subconsciously _always_ knew.”

“...So what happens now? Do I get shipped off to Hogwarts to learn magic or something?”

Poe laughed. “Nothing so ridiculous. We’re going to meet with the Council. They’re going to assign you a Mage mentor who will help you learn and use your abilities. They’ll also get you into new housing and a new job.”

“No. I like my apartment and my job.” Finn shook his head. “Why do I need new ones?”

“It’s just a risk assessment thing.” Poe held one hand up slightly, trying to calm Finn. “You’re a newly Awakened Mage. Until the Council knows that you have a handle on your abilities, just like with any newly Awakened, they want you in an Awakened-only building and working in a position with protections against Sleepers entering. Most Sleepers can’t handle it if they see something they can’t explain. The Council’s job is to make sure the Sleepers don’t see anything that could break their minds, and to clean it all up if they do.”

“So the Council is the governing body for the Awakened?” This actually sort of made sense to Finn, which was what concerned him more than the fact that he had the ability to literally drain the life out of plants and probably also animals and people. No, wait, life-draining definitely concerned him more than everything making sense, nevermind.

“Yes, exactly. And Hunters are kind of like their… Law enforcement, I guess. They act as both bounty hunters and peacekeepers, really. In most cities that’s all they are. The Council here also uses them as a welcoming committee for newly Awakened, but doesn’t take offense if another Awakened citizen takes the liberty of explaining things first, as long as the newly Awakened is still registered within 24 hours.” Poe drank more water. “I can almost guarantee that the Hunter we saw at the cafe is nearby, ready to take you to the Council to be registered.”

Finn sighed and rose from his chair. “Then I guess it’s time to go. The sooner I get registered, the sooner I can learn how to do… whatever it is I can do.”

Poe’s lips twitched into a crooked smile. “Right you are.” He pulled himself up off Finn’s couch and started toward the door. “Oh, uh… Bring your cat.”

“What?” Finn looked back toward Bim Bim. “Why? I thought you didn’t like him?”

“That cat hasn’t stopped growling since he saw me.” Poe shrugged. “Usually they give up and wander off to do cat things like clean themselves or sleep in a sunbeam. Your cat is extra protective of you, likely extra connected to you, and wasn’t negatively affected by your Awakening. Mages don’t need familiars, but it looks like you just might have one.”

Finn glanced at Poe again and then back to Bim Bim. “Alright, well… Let me get him ready.” He went to the front door and pulled down a harness and lead from the hook next to it, then snapped his fingers at Bim Bim and pointed to his feet. The cat darted over and sat perfectly still while Finn crouched down and strapped him into the harness.

“A cat on a leash…” Poe murmured. “I guess I’ve seen crazier things.”

“All set, Bim Bim?” Finn stood up and smiled down at the cat as he mewed his response. “Let’s go, then.” He grabbed his keys from the coffee table, pocketed them, and pulled open the door to find a woman leaning against the wall right across from him.

“Oh, hey, look, it’s Rey!” Poe laughed. “We weren’t expecting you!”

She gave him a flat look, then smiled. “You’re an awful liar, Poe, you know that?” Rey straightened back up then and started toward the stairs, waving for Finn and Poe to follow. “Let’s go. Councilwoman Organa is handling registration right now, and, quite frankly, she’s the best one to deal with when you’re new.”

Poe looked back at Finn and shrugged as he followed Rey, and Finn just scooped Bim Bim up into his arms and locked his door behind him before following the other two.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to [find me on tumblr](http://drunkenoracle.tumblr.com)! I post progress updates/snippets and songs that give me PoeFinn feels, and also take prompts there.


End file.
